Erdoğan, who is in Ukraine for an official visit, received Mustafa Abdülcemil Kırımoğlu, the national leader of Crimean Tatar Turks and a member of the Ukrainian parliament, and his accompanying delegation.

In the Ukrainian census of 2001, 248,200 Ukrainian citizens identified themselves as Crimean Tatars with 98% (or about 243,400) of them living in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. An additional 1,800 (or about 0.7%) lived in the city of Sevastopol, also on the Crimean Peninsula, but outside the border of the autonomous republic.

In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian conflict. (ILKHA)